Saturday, September 13, 2008

Homemade Naan

It's Saturday and it's weekend for the rest of the world, so I guess it's safe for me to put up a food post, no?

I made my own naan yesterday!! I am so proud of myself!!
I got this recipe book, Malaysian Favourites: Best Recipes from Noted Malaysian Cooks
from Kinokuniya (RM45.90) the last time I went home and had been eyeing the naan recipe ever since. On Thursday I got some leftover thick beef curry from an iftar gathering with the folks from the Malaysian Embassy in Riyadh (where I also met Neeza from Jubayl *grin*), so I finally had an excuse to make some!
In the span of 3 weeks, I had slowly slowly bought the required ingredients - yeast (in small individually wrapped packets so that they don't go dead on me so quickly), ghee, flour (I bought 3 1kg packets in anticipation of having to make lots and lots of prawn fritters) and only yesterday did I ask Taufik to stop by the mini market after friday prayers and buy me a cup of yoghurt.
The recipe wasn't that complicated. I guess the only tough part would be the 15 minutes of kneading it required. With good yeast and good mixing or kneading, however, you will be rewarded with fluffy naan ;)
(Recipe modified a bit from original coz I dont have a kitchen scale).

Naan

Ingredients
2 teaspoons dry yeast
250ml lukewarm water (just a little bit more than 1 cup)
4 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons yoghurt
4 tablespoons melted ghee
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups all-purpose flour (I will explain)

Method
In a big bowl, dissolve dry yeast in half of the water. Add sugar, mix well, and set aside for 10 minutes till mixture gets all bubbly and frothy.
Mix in yoghurt, melted ghee, salt and remaining water.
Add in flour into the mixture bit by bit, mixing and eventually kneading until dough forms a stiff ball and does not stick to the bowl or your hands (I used roughly about 3.5 cups at this point). Continue kneading* for 15 more minutes.
Preheat oven to 220 deg C or 440 deg F.
Cover bowl with a clean, dry cloth and let sit in a warm dry corner of your kitchen for about an hour, or till it has doubled in volume.
Divide dough into two, then 4. Divide each quarter into another 4 and form balls (So you eventually get 16 balls).
Flatten each ball with your hands or a rolling pin to form thick discs the size of dessert plates.
Place in the pre-heated oven for 7-10 minutes or till edges are golden brown.
Remove from oven and keep warm under a napkin.



I served my naans with yesterday's thick beef curry and a plain salad of chopped lettuce and chunks of carrots and cucumber. The naan was just slightly sweet, salty and creamy (from the yoghurt i guess) and goes well with the spicy curry.

*Kneading
I am not an expert in kneading, so what I do is fold the dough into itself and push with my knuckles as I go. Repeat until tired.

Baking
To simulate the conditions of a brick oven, I used a Pizza Stone (bought at Stokes, Mall of Dhahran for about SR60 or so) and baked my naan on it. Put the stone in a cold oven before pre-heating to avoid cracking. Flour your naan well before placing it on the hot stone (Do not add any oil). The result is a naan with a crunchy crusty bottom, and a soft fluffy top, just the way my children likes it.
The original recipe instructed me to brush the tops of the naans with ghee and sprinkle it with chopped garlic before baking it, but since I didn't want to get any oil on my pizza stone, I omitted that ingredient/step. You can try it if you want.

My only complain is that these naans are really only best eaten while warm. When it's cold it tends to get quite hard and chewy.. :P
Haven't tried reheating yet, coz I didn't have any leftovers. I had some leftover dough though, and have kept it in the freezer for later use. Will tell you how that turns out.

Now, if only I could figure out how to make Shrimp Sizzler, then we wouldn't need to go to Mughal Restaurant anymore...

Happy trying and tell me how yours turn out!

15 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:08 AM

    Elisa,
    tak tahan nak senyum bila baca tang "Repeat until tired." Tak nak invest in a breadmaker ke?

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  2. waaah.. ni yg buat lapar ni! Yum yum =P

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  3. Im wiling to admit now. im terrible at deep frying or frying. no patience.

    My cucur udang albeit delicious (ive been told) is slightly "too crusty" hehehe.

    Naan..I tunggu balik kampung lah.

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  4. Jeni,
    Takut beli breadmaker nanti, tak guna pulak dah.. :P
    sama lah excuse for mesin jahit...

    myra,
    Pegi ajelah pasar ramadhan, beli.. tapi tak gerenti sedap.. ;)

    swahili,
    I always do something else while I fry. Baca Qur'an ke, potong sayur ke.. then check on the frying once in a while. Kalau tunggguuuuu aje, memang no patience at all. I always end up under-cooking!

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  5. Anonymous12:19 PM

    ohohoh i want that pizza stonelah!

    but good recipe. siap tulis lagi! haha god knows when i will try!

    -nonah-

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  6. nonah
    I think that pizza stone is a really good investment. It;s really versatile. Next I nak cari the wooden paddle yg orang guna untuk masukkan pizza dalam oven lak.
    Coz entah berapa kali I almost burnt my hand when I was putting in the naans..

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh nan memang sedap dimakan masa panas. lepas ni elisa ada tempayan besar pulak buat nan. buatkan i satuuuu

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  8. lolls,
    kalau you nak, you kena datang sini!
    *mwahahaha*
    eh did i tell you, we're planning to drive to UAE and Oman next spring.
    Nak join? Kat Oman dah ada accomodation ;) Kat UAE, i ingat nak sewa apt in Sharjah.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rajinnya lisa buat naan.. neeza at the moment sangatlah malas.. plus the flu, sneezing dan headache.. pheww!! lagi lah malasnya..

    naan elisa tu nampak sangat mengancam lah :)

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  10. i think by now it should be easier for you to list down things you haven't attempted to cook than the ones you have... bravo bravo!

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  11. neeza,
    tapi naan ni takdelah sedap macam kat kedai punya.. bolehlah..

    mosh,
    eh banyak lagi i belum try nih.. ada berapa buku resepi!
    *belek belek*

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pandaila you buat nan.
    tang roti roti ni , I tak berani buat sendiri. Kena cari masa pi kursus dgn kawan dulu buat roti afghan. dia buat sedapppp.

    ReplyDelete
  13. ummFiArd,
    peliklah baca you tulis melayu.. hahahah :)
    Hah, kalau dah dapat recipe Roti Afghan tu, share lah ya? I wanted to try your chocolate cake recipe yg nampak oh so yummeh itu, but belum ada occassion.

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  14. Elisa
    cant help commenting..Her chocolate cake is a must try. Ive tried it for harris bday and many other occasions...total yum.

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  15. Swahili,
    Taufik and Ihsan's birthday is coming up (Oct 1st), so maybe I'd try it then! :)

    ReplyDelete